Travel ban to SXM from Europe and USA

Covid-19 St. Maarten Update

As of Tuesday, March 17, all International flights and cruises originating from the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom into St. Maarten are restricted (cancelled) for next two weeks.

As of today, March 14, up until and including Monday, March 16, there is an opportunity for St. Maarten students and residents abroad to return to the country ahead of the two-week travel restriction. All residents and nationals traveling back to St. Maarten from the US, Europe and UK in this period are recommended to monitor their health for 14 days in case of Covid-19 symptoms.

Arrangements will be put in place for visitors to return home with their carriers in the coming weeks.

These travel restrictions do not apply regional (Caribbean) air and sea travel at this time. All Caribbean travel will continue.

Travel within the Caribbean part of the Dutch Kingdom - Saba Curaçao, Aruba, Bonaire, and St. Eustatius - remains in place until further notice.

Cargo flights and vessels bring in household supplies, food, oil and gas, and medicines will continue to and from St. Maarten.

Travel of technical and medical assistants will be allowed via commercial or chartered airlines.

No permits for gathering of more than 100 persons will not be issued. Those already issued will be postponed until further notice.

(Source: Prime Minister of St. Maarten)

Glad I am out of SXM and in Anguilla in my safe spot.
So far no panic here.
Was in St Maarten visiting for one week.

LINK

I wonder how this is going to work?

"Arrangements will be put in place for visitors to return home with their carriers."

Wow. Thanks Elaine.

What makes you think you are any better off in Anguilla than in St Maarten. St Maarten is doing everything right regarding this virus.

I live here.
Better than other options right now.
No disagreement about what SXM is doing.
Didnt mean post to be controversial.

I am wondering this as well. I can't see an airline sending an empty plane down just to take people home. I guess we'll just have to see what arises. Fortunately we can stay longer if need be.

I was just wondering. Seems that people with this virus need respirators and SXM with minimal hospital facilities. If there is alot of cases how will one get to use a respirator? Airlines or ships are not going to let you board to go somewhere else.

Wendell

Prime minister statement.
PRIME MINISTER OF SINT MAARTEN
Minister-President van Sint Maarten

National Address
Date: 14th, March 2020


Prime Minister Silveria Jacobs National Address on COVID-19 MARCH 14, 2020

“People of St. Maarten, I hereby address you, as Prime Minister and Chair of the EOC (Emergency Operations Center), in an update for today Saturday March 14, 2020, as part of the process to keep the community of Sint Maarten informed about the latest developments and the Governments COVID-19 preparedness, prevention, mitigation and response measures.

The World Health Organization declared on Wednesday March 11 that the coronaviris COVID-19 has become a global pandemic. Based on this delcaration, the Government of Sint Maarten has stepped up its preparations and today March 14, after deliberation with the Council of Ministers and the EOC a number of decisions have been taken.

These preventive measures are to limit the exposure of the Sint Maarten people to COVID-19 due to an increase in COVID-19 cases in Europe and the United States of America.

Effective Tuesday, March 17, 2020, all international flights and cruises originating from the United States of America, Europe and the United Kingdom to Sint Maarten are cancelled for a period of two weeks. These travel restrictions do not apply for regional air and sea travel at this time. Travel within the Dutch Caribbean – Saba, St. Eustatius, Bonaire, Aruba, and Curacao remains in place until further notice. This travel restriction also applies to other seafaring vessels.

Arrangements will be put in place for visitors to return home with their carriers. Cargo flights/vessels bringing in food supplies, household goods, oil, gas, as well as medicine will continue. Also allowed, will be travel by technical and medical assistants whether via commercial or chartered airlines.

I would like to reiterate that there is no food shortage on the island. There is no reason to engage in panic buying or hoarding of food. There is a sufficient supply of food and medication on the island. We remain in constant contact with our suppliers and have been assured that replenishments will continue.

As of today, March 14th, up until and including Monday, March 16th, there is an opportunity for St. Maarten students studying abroad and residents as well as essential personnel to return to the country ahead of the 2 week travel restrictions.

All residents and nationals traveling back to Sint Maarten from the United States, Europe and the United Kingdom during this period, are recommended to monitor their health for 14-days for consistent cough, fever or respiratory problems (consitent with COVID-19) and maintain a social distance for the safety and security of the community. If you experience the aforementioned symptoms, please call your family physician. Do not go to your doctor or the medical center. During the phone call with your doctor, you will be advised further what actions should be taken.

The second decision regards large gatherings. With respect to social gatherings throughout the country, new permits will not be granted for gatherings of more than 100 persons. Permits which have already been issued relating to gatherings of more than 100 persons will be postponed until further notice.

Government also strongly recommends that persons in a public setting should keep a distance of at least one meter from each other under certain settings. All institutions, businesses, organizations, religious services and other entities should adhere to these recommended advices in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19.

The current situation unfolding at the Princess Juliana International Airport (PJIA) has been brought to my attention, as there was some confusion as to the travel history of 6 passengers on the Air France flight which landed today Saturday, March 14th, based on the fact that German nationals were on board. As we know germany has been added on March 11th to our list of restricted areas of travel. In the latest update received, two of the passengers are residents of Switserland and orignated from there and therefore are allowed to travel to St. Maarten as per our current travel restrictions. The other 4 passengers of German nationality who originated in Germany will return on the same flight back to France. The passengers were kept on board until this information was confirmed, and none have any symptoms related to COVID-19.

PJIA will issue a press release on this matter. The general public is advised not to allow themselves to be riled up before having all the facts. I will also continue to provide updates as the situation develops.

Follow our Government Radio station – 107.9FM. For official information, statements and news updates or visit the Government website at www.sintmaartengov.org/coronavirus and our Facebook Page: Government of Sint Maarten.

As Prime Minister of St. Maarten, I wish to encourage all of us to remain steadfast in preparing for what is a world wide pandemic. While we currently have zero confirmed cases, these are all measures aimed at maintaining a COVID-19 status. I pray that we would take our fellow man/woman into consideration while going about our daily activities, and with the knowledge that we are ensuring your safety, refrain from panic buying and fear mongering. Continue to practice proper hygiene at home, at work and in the community.

Knowledge is power! Stay informed and be prepared. We are strong, resilient and faithful people and trust that this too shall pass.

God bless St. Maarten and her people as we work together; government and community to keep her safe. Thank you.

So is this a ban of USA flights or USA citizens? I have friends and family there And I’d rather sit it out on SXM than the USA. I suppose I could get to sxm or leave via St kitts etc?? Anybody know?

Isn't this some what fear mongering ?

I wonder if US airlines are going to dead head a flight to SXM just to bring passengers back to the US.

Wendell

Flights and cruise ships coming from USA whether passing through or originating.

Wise move

No mention of flights to or from Canada or the status of Canadian visitors. I am going to assume the PM knows better than to somehow consider us part of either the USA or the UK. Very odd that there is no mention whatsoever, either in terms of a restriction, or even an exclusion from the restriction, as there was for regional air carriers. Canadians are one of the largest groups of tourists to the island, so it is a little puzzling to leave us in a sort of "legal limbo".

That border lock should’ve been done a month ago, and not only on SXM. All North America should’ve been on a lockdown.

Shhhhh.... we are flying out of sxm on the 17.... Wife is already panicking, had to give her a few extra glasses of wine this evening...

We just switched our return from 3/18 to 3/16. Didn’t want to wait to see what would happen!!

OK. (whispering). Mum's the word!! lol. And feeding the wife wine on vacation is ALWAYS a good strategy.

Kim--hope that works for you to get home. Wow...

Yes Kim, glad you are going to get home Monday.

There is talk now of domestic travel restrictions. Home is the best place to be.

Safe and healthy travels.

It says flights and cruise ships. Nothing about nationality.

I feel safer here at this moment in time than what I am hearing going on in the USA. The public is acting like scared rabbits and not acting in a rational way. Maybe isn a week or 2 the panicking will subside at home and clearer minds will prevail; but for now I am happy to enjoy the fine weather here while waiting things out.

I had previously posted that my wife made me cancel our 8 day trip, leaving Philadelphia this AM at 9:30. American Airlines would not refund my tickets; but did give me store credit, good for a year.

Had we departed this morning, we would not have been able to return, as AA has cancelled the PHL-SXM flight, as of March 17, 2020.

The owner of the apartment that we were supposed to rent in Orient Village would not refund my 300 euro security deposit, but we did make an arrangement, whereby he will give me partial credit for a stay next November.

We were supposed to fly to Ireland on May 1; but it looks like that flight will be cancelled. No fun paying for trips that you cannot take. Hope that this calms down, and does not get any worse, but I am not optimistic.

We were already booked to leave SXM on Monday, and my understanding is that if you don’t make arrangements to get out of here by midnight Monday, you won’t be able to leave until 4/1 at the earliest. They’re definitely not screwing around with this. No one will get special treatment. They’re giving people 48 hours to get out and that’s that.

It was a frantic scene at the Royal Islander front desk tonight. People were sauntering in after dinner and security was telling people they couldn’t go upstairs until they confirmed their departure date with the staff. If it was after Monday, they were told they needed to make alternate flight arrangements ASAP or they had to extend their stay. Period.

It’s been a different vacation to say the least...

I am working on changing flights but nothing is available and I was on it last night. A couple of the others supposedly are going out today. Not really sure what to do at this point. Changing/rebooking on Delta online produced no results. No email notification from Delta either, others on AA did get a notification.

Seems Canada has be added, will post when confirmed.

Dumb clarification here.

Obviously, this means flights are ending. Does it mean vacation visitors MUST leave OR can they hunker down on island assuming they have lodging and provisions to do so?

Good luck everybody. Keep calm and wash your hands wherever you maybe.

Absolutely not. This is real. It's exactly that attitude that makes this situation worse. Think of the residents , medical resources are extremely limited. Why would you go there and potentially add to their burden. Support the island and stay home.

Gone by midnight tomorrow or hunker down.

Read what I just posted in a new topic. It appears inbound flights will be allowed to get previously scheduled passengers off the island. As we know, it could easily change but I am not seeing any good option at this point.

That is if your carrier hasn't already cancelled said flight based on this decision...

Pretty much same situation for us. We're scheduled for departure on Friday the 20th. Received email from American last night saying flight cancelled. Tried to change flight last night with no luck. Got on the phone and tried to call American at 3:30 am and was disconnected after an hour (a venture that cost me $25 even with my SXM cell phone). Delta is still showing flights available Wednesday, but I don't know if they will really fly an empty plane down here to pick people up, so I can't decide whether to spring for the Delta tickets. Nerve wracking.

Yes, difficult situations. My wife is going to the local airport this morning to see if she can do anything by talking to a person. I tried to book Wed, on Delta but had an issue getting credit card verification. Be sure to read the updated post I made earlier. Good luck.

Just spoke with United. They were unaware of the new travel restrictions, but I was able to change my flight from March 29 to April 1 which is beyond the 2 weeks announced so far. They did not have any availability to fly out earlier. Now I have to go down to the front desk and see about a room for the extra nights. I assume that since no incoming flights are allowed that shouldn't be a problem but we'll see.

ruralcarrier--I've sent you a message

Near as I can tell, flights coming in won't be empty. Bringing back locals.

Yes, I had the same problem with credit card verification

Well, that's true, there would be some residents coming home, at least for a while,but doubt they will be very full. It's hard to know what to do, but I guess if you're young and strong, I would go back home to SXM. If you're older, not sure I would risk the medical facilities on SXM...

I'm high risk and happy to be here, not there. Not sure I want to risk the chaos and crowds there! Back to the old chocolate and vanilla story

Re: residents returning.....ban is on all commercial flights from the USA . It's not a ban on just USA residents....it's the airline that can't land

The airport and the plane are the biggest worries..

For what it's worth, I've heard that the two hospitals on St. Maarten / St. Martin have a total of 4 ventilators.

I know. But my chances of getting sick here are way less, IMHO.

There is also a very good infectious disease specialist at SMMC.

Hard to say, but if I were you and I lived there and new where the hospital was and had been there a few times and had a doctor who knew my face and maybe name and new how insurance, payment, billing worked I would let mother nature’s sun, fresh air and beutiful views take care of me on island.

But I dont know where the hospital is? Is it up the hill on some street in Marigot? Dutch side have no idea? Doctor, never used one on island. I do know a few pharmacies. For me, i better get back.

The ban does not apply to residents, however are the airlines willing to fly a plane with a few residents on board, and then take Americans etc home, or will they just cancel because of the cost of flying almost empty?

That is the big question at this point.

boucharda--Look at the updated info that JD posted this morning. It looks like they will allow planes to land to bring back residents, but as Uksimonusa said, the bigger question is whether they will fly almost empty planes down to bring people home..

American just announced they will be ending all long haul international flights 16 March

https://www.google.com/amp/s/mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKBN212044

Parking the bIrds, saving the gas, probably furloughing the pilots

Delta pilots union agreeing to half pay for certain pilots

Not sure what the definition is of "long haul international flights", but AA will probably wind up in bankruptcy...

Wow....that's a biggie

Long haul is anywhere from 6-12 hour flight...depending on the airline

Anyone who anticipates that their airline will go bankrupt may want to keep that in mind when offered store credit to re-book their ticket for a later date...

Perfect time for a charter airline to run passenger rescue missions from Europe...actually from anywhere. Arrives empty and leaves full so no landing restrictions. I guess the big boys could do the same but it's easier just to shut down ops I guess

When we were on a medical relief mission to Iran way back when they sent a 767 charter to take us back...35 passengers in a 767....but that was on Uncle Sam. These flights would be full

I finally was able to book the Delta Wednesday flight online using an AMEX card. Now whether they have an actual plane here or not, we will see.

If it's your only option, it really doesn't matter at this point, does it? I seriously doubt our government will allow our entire airline system to go bankrupt as the result of the actions the government had to take to protect its citizens.

Im thinking, as a high risk person also that I want to be close to the best care available. That is NOT the island. Not to mention they are ill enough prepared to look after thier own never mind you or me.

Agree. This is a “natural/govt mandate” catastrophe. We have to protect this and other indiustries to float them until “normal” returns.

Definitely dumb to burn gas with empty planes spreading germs.

I expect more shoes to drop domestically.

AND THEN WEHAVE TO BOUNCE BACK!

"the best care available". I get that here. I've been in the hospital, doctors on both sides of the island, have a wonderful family doctor. And our home is here. Go to the states and live isolated in a hotel room? Not for me.

My wife was at the DAY airport and had us on speaker phone. Wed. was sold out so as of now, they do appear to be bringing that flight in. I had the option to go to Thursday (1st class & $$) but the supervisor suggested just staying with my Friday flight at this point. Who knows how it will turn out but Delta is still booking people out next week.

I might be looking thru my "rose colored glasses" but i can't see Delta letting us get stranded here. Can you imagine the bad pr they would get. They only have 2 flights a day here. If they can't send those flights down here with few passengers on them to retrieve us, they are in big trouble. Besides, i think we would have heard something from them by now. Our return flight is Tuesday and there are over 30 empty seats available. Now, if they start combining flights to return i can understand that, but to just leave us stranded, i can't see it. Just my personal opinion. I wonder what the "rules of carriage" (or whatever they are called) say about situations like this

My wife just came from the airport in DAY and nothing was being shown as available until Thursday/Friday. I ran into the same thing while checking seats for friends going out today, lots shown when I logged into their account but according to the Delta reps in DAY, the information must not be up to date. I hope you are right. Rules of Carriage may go out the window due to the local orders.

With that island view and breeze you should be fine. Limit exposure and wash your hands.😊

JD, this is interesting. If i check for new seats on my flight (Tuesday) it says "sorry, no seats available for this flight" blah blah blah. But if i go into my reservation to change our seats there are about 30 seats available for me to change to. Almost looks like they are controlling the booking of new tickets (for whatever reason)

Bob, Yes something is going on or perhaps the system in individual accounts are not updated? Pretty much what I found earlier. Confusing at best. I do hope your earlier thought is correct.,

The airlines are in bug trouble already.

Your government will send a plane and charge you for it. They did that after hurrican and did it for those in Wuhan China.

Make sure the embassy/consulate knows your contact info if you think the airline might abandon you.

Personally, if you want out I would pay the piper and standby for any flight out.

You dont know if they wont shut the big hubs down for a period of time.

Time to get into John Candy/Steve Martin mode and Planes Trains Automobiles home.

If my employer didnt care Id book a room in 2 week cancellable increments and make a big Carib beer run.

JD and everyone who is trying to get out, best wishes. These are trying times..

Just stay away from others!! All the experts seem to feel that is the only way to keep this from spreading and
not overwhelming the medical facilities.

You can go outside and go for swim. I heard this morning that swimming should be a safe
place . Your state of mind is very important, and you seem very comfortable there in SXM.

We are staying in our home away from everyone as much as possible.
(My husband has to have a procedure done soon, and I am not happy about being in a surgical center, but everyone has something they have to deal with).

Good luck to everyone.

Yup...good luck

Has anyone seen this verified anywhere else? I cannot find mention of it anywhere..news...AA website...I would think it would be a biggie. I know Reuters is decent but....

Even the FlyerTalk website which is pretty active says nothing...it does say an AA pilot has tested positive but no mention of the long haul flight stoppage

Edit: disregard the above...Starting to show up on other news sites

Edit #2: Delta is parking 300 jets and also cancelling all European flights for at least a month

Too bad so sad. And hearing that the airlines will look to the government for a bailout really pi**es me off!

They have made billions in keeping change fees, luggage fees, etc. I do not feel sorry for them.

I checked with a WestJet site and there is no cancellations... So what are they going to do - send an empty plane to get us?

Easy to stay away from folks here. If I were to travel, it's impossible. We've been swimming, breakfast at Yacht Club, trek to Philipsburg to visit a friend. No crowds where we have been, but we normally stay far away from crowds, not our vibe.

Mostly we're home, but that's not new.

Best to Richard, hope all goes well.